When elephants stray off their forest road into the village, everyone is scared. Can Wilen find a way to help the animals and sill keep people safe?

This poignant debut novel in verse is a portrait of healing, as a young girl rediscovers life and the soothing power of nature after being freed from her abusive father. For most of her life, Lacey has been a prisoner without even realizing it. Her dad rarely let her, her little sister, or her mama out of his sight. But their situation changes suddenly and dramatically the day her grandparents arrive to help them leave. It’s the beginning of a different kind of life for Lacey, and at first she has a hard time letting go of her dad’s rules. Gradually though, his hold on her lessens, and her days become filled with choices she’s never had before. Now Lacey can take pleasure in sketching the world as she sees it in her nature journal. And as she spends more time outside making things grow and creating good memories with family and friends, she feels her world opening up and blossoming into something new and exciting.

"The Pelican spread his huge white wings and flew down on to the road beside me. 'Hop in,' he said, opening his enormous beak . . ." MEET BILLY. A kid with a dream. He wants to turn an old wooden house into an incredible sweetshop full of treats! AND MEET THE LADDERLESS WINDOW-CLEANING COMPANY: Monkey, Pelican (Pelly) and Giraffe (who needs ladders when you've got a giraffe?!). They have just landed a big break cleaning all six hundred and seventy-seven windows of the mansion owned by the richest man in all of England! All they need now is a little help from Billy. Can these unlikely new friends make Billy's wildest dreams come true and take him on an adventure he'll never forget . . .?

A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs Ringil Eskiath—Gil, for short—a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but when his mother enlists his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one young woman. Grim sorceries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of the Aldrain, a race of widely feared, cruel yet beautiful demons. Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease.

Discover a world of outrageous experiments with the Sunday Times top ten bestseller, Elephants on Acid. Guided by Alex Boese's engaging storytelling, unearth answers to questions that have tickled your curious mind – from the unusual to the hilariously absurd. 'Excellent accounts of some of the most important and interesting experiments in biology and psychology' – Simon Singh, author of The Code Book A riveting look at historical experiments that challenge conventional thinking: If left to their own devices, would babies instinctively choose a well-balanced diet? - Discover the secret of how to sleep on planes - Which really tastes better in a blind tasting - Coke or Pepsi? - Would your dog run to fetch help if you fell down a disused mineshaft? - What would happen if you gave an elephant the largest ever single dose of LSD? Elephants on Acid humorously delves into these and more, delivering a unique blend of popular psychology and historical science – a fascinating insight into the bizarre world of scientific experiments.

An outstanding new voice in memoir, Christine Herbert takes the reader on a "time-machine tour" of her Peace Corps volunteer service as a health worker and educator from 2004-2006 in Zambia. Rather than a retrospective, this narrative unfolds in the present tense, propelling the reader alongside the memoirist through a fascinating exploration of a life lived "off the grid." At turns harrowing, playful, dewy-eyed and wise, the author's heart and candor illuminate every chapter, whether she is the heroine of the tale or her own worst enemy. Even at her most petulant, the laugh-out-loud humor scuppers any "white savior" mentality and lays bare the undeniable humanity-and humility-of the storyteller. Through it all, an undeniable love for Zambia-its people, land and culture-shines through. A must-read for the armchair adventurer, a book about Zambia - a personal Peace Corps Memoir.

The growth and adventures of an elephant and his young master.

No one sees the world quite like John Gimlette. As The New York Times once noted, “he writes with enormous wit, indignation, and a heightened sense of the absurd.” Writing for both the adventurer and the armchair traveler, he has an eye for unusually telling detail, a sense of wonder, and compelling curiosity for the inside story. This time, he travels to Sri Lanka, a country only now emerging from twenty-six years of civil war. Delving deep into the nation’s story, Gimlette provides us with an astonishing, multifaceted portrait of the island today. His travels reveal the country as never before. Beginning in the exuberant capital, Colombo (“a hint of anarchy everywhere”), he ventures out in all directions: to the dry zones where the island’s 5,800 wild elephants congregate around ancient reservoirs; through cinnamon country with its Portuguese forts; to the “Bible Belt” of Buddhism—the tsunami-ravaged southeast coast; then up into the great green highlands (“the garden in the sky”) and Kandy, the country’s eccentric, aristocratic Shangri-la. Along the way, a wild and often desperate history takes shape, a tale of great colonies (Arab, Portuguese, British, and Dutch) and of the cultural divisions that still divide this society. Before long, we’re in Jaffna and the Vanni, crucibles of the recent conflict. These areas—the hottest, driest, and least hospitable—have been utterly devastated by war and are only now struggling to their feet. But this is also a story of friendship and remarkable encounters. In the course of his journey, Gimlette meets farmers, war heroes, ancient tribesmen, world-class cricketers, terrorists, a former president, old planters, survivors of great massacres—and perhaps some of their perpetrators. That’s to say nothing of the island’s beguiling fauna: elephants, crocodiles, snakes, storks, and the greatest concentration of leopards on Earth. Here is a land of extravagant beauty and profound devastation, of ingenuity and catastrophe, possessed of both a volatile past and an uncertain future—a place capable of being at once heavenly and hellish—all brought to vibrant, fascinating life here on the page.

A sprawling, complex tale of magic and destiny that won't disappoint its readers. This auspicious beginning for author Peter Orullian will have you looking forward to more.--Terry Brooks.